Improbable Events:Murder at Ellenton Hall

As Associate Dean, Mark Bolton knew he'd have to deal with tough problems-but nothing could have prepared him for this! I nodded, pushed open the door, and stepped inside. I was not prepared for the scene that appeared in front of me. I felt my knees start to buckle, and another Tampa Tribune headline started swirling around in my head, this time reading, "Former Prosecutor Not So Tough: Passes Out At Crime Scene." That made me laugh a little, which-along with closing my eyes and taking a deep breath-helped me to recover my footing. Sure, I was a former prosecutor: nearly eight years in that occupation at one time or another, including a three-year stint as a section chief in the Tampa U.S. Attorney's Office. But feds don't do much murder, and my personal specialty was white-collar crime. The forensic scenes I had encountered usually contained nothing worse than gray file cabinets and pasty-faced executives sweating from the embarrassment of being handcuffed in front of their co-workers. And, to tell the truth, that was plenty gruesome for me. I had gone to law school instead of listening to my father, who had wanted me to become a doctor, for the classic reason: I couldn't stand the sight of blood.

Harvard Law School graduate Michael Seigel has been a first assistant United States attorney, law professor, and law school associate dean. He teaches law at the University of Florida and lives in Tampa with his family.